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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. press — to push
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. sharp — clever
  5. roll — a list
  6. tear — to rip
  7. kid — to tease
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. press — a publisher
  14. cold — an illness
  15. pit — a hole
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. cold — not warm
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. press — newspapers
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. lean — to bend
  22. kid — child
  23. pit — in a race
  24. lean — thin

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com